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Message-ID: <52493asstr$1132560601@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: "Wine Maker" <wine_maker@eknifeshop.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} The Lady in Blue Chapter 14 (MF, MFF, Slow, Romantic, Exhibitionism, Petting, Oral)
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Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2005 03:10:01 -0500
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An Erotic Vineyard Mystery serial. Starts slowly, but the passion
builds as the plot unfolds with romance. A Texas vintner meets a lady
in blue at a private club. Sparks fly and tensions build as they tease
each other, or as his brother would call it, doing the "Do Me" dance.
Then tragedy strikes close and as they explore their relationship, they
also find something new as a sexy cop becomes part of the dance. Has a
real plot and three dimensional characters. It's more than just a
wanker.

Read this story on several sites and vote on each for me. Voting for my
stories encourages me to write more. Remember to vote for each chapter
on Literotica and on the last chapter on Storiesonline.

http://storiesonline.net/auth/Wine_Maker

http://english.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=560253&page=submissions

"The Lady in Blue"

An ongoing saga, (c) 2005 by Wine Maker

Chapter Fourteen: A big break.

Note: Takes place at the same time as chapter twelve.

Hawk's point of view

I caught a lucky break on the fourth call. The secretary at Conrad's
Construction and Demolition wasn't as discreet as she probably should
have been to nosy people asking questions about missing explosives and
detonators. She let slip that they had already reported the theft to
the police. I told her someone would be following up on that right away
and to have an eye out. Her directions were clear and concise. I
figured it would take an hour to get there.

Being paranoid, I kept an eye out for Ranger Dickhead, but he seemed to
be lost for the moment. That was good, but it cost me an extra fifteen
minutes to be sure.

The city gave way to a sparsely populated rural area with surprising
suddenness as I crossed the Beltway. When I came to the company, the
tall chain link fence with barbed wire along the top looked suitably
intimidating; it would be hard for someone to simply sneak in. A lot of
beat up trucks, and other vehicles with less obvious purposes, were
scattered around a metal building. A smaller building was separated by
almost half the property. Men in hardhats walked around. They looked
pretty buff. Some of the lady detectives I knew would be drooling. More
than one construction worker stopped to watch me as I pulled my hog
into the parking area.

I slid off and shook my hair out of the helmet, leaving it on the bike.
A large man in a red flannel shirt and a battered orange safety helmet
came over. "Hey, can I help you?" He held out a beefy hand and smiled
at me. "I'm Big Mike."

Turning on the charm, I smiled back and took it firmly. "Yes, you sure
are. I'm Hawk. You might be able to help me. I'm looking into the
disappearance of some explosive detonators. Your company called the
police." Not one lie in that, but the line I wanted his thoughts
walking was laid out.

Mike pulled his hat off and ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah, we
did have some stuff turn up missing last week. Conrad was out to all
the sites looking around for them and asking lots questions. That kind
of stuff can get the State, the ATF and the Department of Homeland
Security pretty interested in a company. Not something we look forward
to."

"I take it that they never turned up. I'm not here to cause trouble for
the company, but you know how people will try to put what happens in
the best light. I need to know the real deal if I'm going to get to the
bottom of this. Think I'll get it inside?" I added another hundred
watts to my smile. "Can you give me an off the record take from the
boys in the yard, Mike? It would really help me out."

Big Mike grinned and nodded. "We can trade for it, Hawk. You let me
take you out to dinner and I'll give you the word from around the
yard."

I held my hand back out. "Deal."

After a pleased shake from Mike, he looked back toward the main
building. "Conrad is a good guy, both to work for and with. I don't
think he would shade it too much for the cops. He'd just tell it like
it was and take his lumps, but there is no real proof that he can be
sure of. The boys have an idea but it's just suspicion, you know?"

I nodded. "Suspicion is fine for now. Tell me what happened and what
you boys think."

Mike put his hands on his hips. "Well, last week the Friday inventory
came up short some explosive compound and one wireless detonator. One
of the new ones that has the increased range. The shift boss, Tony,
freaked out. You see, we have to sign out explosives and detonators.
Only the shift boss is supposed to do that and it's inventoried at the
start and end of each day so Tony was responsible for it. He called
Conrad and they tore the place up looking for it. No dice."

"Can anyone get into where you keep that stuff?"

Mike pointed at the small building off by itself. "It's locked up out
there in the explosives shed. The door is locked all the time and only
the shift boss, Mavis in the office, and Conrad have keys."

"So, someone had to come out here during the day and get into that
locked building in broad daylight?"

He nodded. "That's not as off as it might sound. During the day, most
of these guys are out on various job sites. The only reason this crew
is here is because we are going out to a new site. In an hour
there'll only be the office staff. That won't get anyone through the
doors, but it cuts way down on witnesses. There was a new guy on
Ralph's crew that quit right around then. A new guy - less  than a
week on the job. I think his name was Allen. They can tell you more
about him inside."

I nodded and pulled a pen out of my jacket. I wrote my number on his
hand. "You've been a lot of help, Mike. Call me this weekend and I'll
pay up my end."

He went back to the other men and they started hooting. Men. I just
smiled and shook my head before walking into the main building. The
office was clearly marked. A harassed looking woman in her fifties was
manning the phone. "No, I can't send a crew out this afternoon, Marty.
I can send Carl and some of his boys to take a look at it tomorrow
morning, so just go have a beer and stop yelling at me. I work slower
when I get yelled at. Tomorrow!" She hung up and smiled sourly at me.
"Everyone thinks they have priority. What can I do for you?"

I scratched my nose and tried not to smile. "We spoke on the phone. I'm
here to follow up on the explosives theft."

"I called Conrad and he said he would help you with it," she said.
"Hang on." She dialed a number and spoke briefly into the phone. "He'll
be right out."

True to her word, a balding man in well-worn work coveralls came out
from the back in less than a minute. He looked to be in his middle
fifties. "I'm Conrad. Come on back."

I followed him into a neat office and took the chair he indicated.
"Call me Hawk, Conrad. I'm following up on the report of the missing
detonator and explosives. What can you tell me about it?"

His story matched pretty well with Big Mike's, so I was pretty sure it
was the straight shot. When he was done, I asked, "So, who has keys to
that shed, or do you think it was broken into another way?"

Conrad shook his head. "The office key is missing. Someone came in and
took it. I have my suspicions and they were in the report."

"I know," I lied, "but I want to hear it all fresh."

"We had a new hire no show today. Allen Carson. He was only with us for
a couple of days last week, and then he vanished. He hasn't answered
his pager, and that's the only number I have for him. I went by his
place and it's a meat market. Makes me real suspicious. Mavis said he
was in about lunch on Friday and asked for a copy of his W4 form. She
went and made him a copy. When the inventory came up short, she
couldn't find the key. She's been with me over twenty years so it must
have been him. "

"Can I see his employment application and papers?" I asked.

He nodded and stood up. "Let me go get them for you."

While he was out, my phone rang.

"Hawk." I said when I answered it.

"Hawk, Lisa. We have some new information."

"I'm in the middle of something, Lisa. Can you call me back?" I asked.

"I'll make it quick," Lisa said, "and you can call me back when you are
free to talk. We found a tape at Calvin's and his appointment book.
Murphy showed up, but we got out without him seeing us. The tape showed
the Galveston DA passing cash to someone I don't know."

I heard a deep breath. That couldn't be good.

"Then I got stupid and left them in the car when we stopped to check on
my mother. Someone jimmied the car and took them."

"Dammit, Lisa! How could you leave it in your car?" I half shouted.

"I know!" she said. "I was stupid! You can join me in tearing me up for
making such an amateur mistake. My idiot brother was there but I don't
think..."

"Did your brother take it, do you think?" I asked.

"No, he's not that smart," Lisa responded. "He'd just smash the window.
Listen, before you go, we have a ticket stub that was in the
appointment book. S.W.P. on the keys could be Seawolf Park."

"Wait for me. We'll all go there together." I said.

"No," Lisa said. "I'll be careful and look for tails, but we need to
get there before someone has a chance to figure out to look there, if
they can, from the other evidence. I won't wait, but you can come down
when you can, or we'll call after we look around."

"Argh! Lisa! Don't be stupid! Wait for me and I'll be right down! Going
in by yourselves is about the most..."

She interrupted me quickly. "Look, you need to go. We'll call if we
find anything. Good luck, and be careful."

The call disconnected before I could tell her no way. I started to call
her back and then decided it would be a waste of breath. She was
stubborn. I would just have to trust she would be careful and that Ted
would keep an eye on her.

Conrad came back in with a folder. "Trouble?" he asked, setting it down
on his desk in front of me.

I opened it and shook my head. "No, my partner is just off doing things
that get on my nerves. Newbies drive me nuts."

The folder had a standardized job application and copies of his ID. I
looked at the black and white copy of a drivers license. Thin guy in
his thirties. Black hair and eyes that seemed to shout his guilt. It
all looked in order.

"I'll need copies of these and a look at the shed, Conrad." I said,
closing the folder.

In twenty minutes I had them and had been given the grand tour. Conrad
was right; there was no sign of forced entry. The explosives were
stacked neatly in shelves and bins and the detonators were in a
separate room. I was satisfied that the new guy was the thief, and
there was a good chance he was also our bomber. Conrad and I parted
ways with my promise to get to the bottom of this.

The best lead I had now was Carson's list of references. Mavis had to
have talked with someone who knew this guy. First, though, I should run
his ID. I pulled out my phone and started dialing dispatch before I
remembered that I had been fired. I cursed and then called anyway.

"Get me Steve Lombardi," I said with authority. "Hawkins calling."

In a minute, I had him on the line. "Hawk, what can I do for you?"
Sounded like he hadn't heard the news. No need to ask him to break the
rules. Then I thought about it and cursed my own honesty. I couldn't
lie to a friend, even by omission.

"I need a run on an ID, but I have a problem, Steve. Jordan canned me
this morning. Will you help me out?"

"What?" he asked, shocked. I told him the story and he cussed at Jordan
for a minute. Then, he came through for me. "What he doesn't know won't
hurt him, so give it to me."

"Thanks, Steve.  Allen Carson, license follows." I gave him the
information.

"Got it, hang on while I bring it up. Hmmm, the number is valid, but
it's not connected to Allen Carson. It's to a James Waldeck, age
eighty-seven. You have a social?" I read it to him. "That's for a
Janice Silvers, deceased. Hawk, it sounds like your man is using
cribbed numbers."

I knew it had been too easy. I'd have to go with the references. I
thanked Steve and hung up. The first one never answered and the second
was answered by a male voice. The paper said his name should be Vern
Worthy.

"I'm calling to get a reference for Allen Carson." I said.

"Sure," he answered. "I know Allen. Good man. Be happy to give you a
good reference for him."

I let him tell me how great the non-existent Allen was and then let him
go with my thanks. Then, I called the operator and asked for a reverse
lookup on the number. Bob's Bar and Grill. I got the address and headed
off that way. Time to let Vern tell me that again in person. It was on
the way to Galveston, and I was a bit nervous about leaving Ted and
Lisa on their own for too long. Lisa was too cocky.

The parking lot was filled with cars that had seen better decades. Any
expectations I had for this place were obviously too high. It was a
dive. No self-respecting hooker would be caught here if she had more
than two teeth. The neon sign outside either wasn't on, or most likely,
didn't work. I think the exterior was gray, under all that crap, but I
wasn't checking too closely.

I opened the door and was almost bowled over by the stench. Stale beer,
unwashed bodies, cigarette smoke and weed. That, and other less savory
smells. I made a mental note to burn my clothes later. When my eyes
adjusted to the dim interior, I was able to make out a scattering of
people drinking at the tables, a couple playing pool and one trying to
coax something from the jukebox. There was only one guy behind the bar
and my money was on him being Vern.

Eying the unspeakable stain on the bar stool, I decided to stand. The
bartender was about thirty. Dirty brown hair hung past his shoulders in
stringy clumps. His face didn't speak razor. When he smiled, I
considered paying him to stop.

"What can I get for you?" he asked while undressing me with his eyes.

"Lysol, straight up."

He blinked, and then he smiled a bit more. "Funny."

"You Vern Worthy?" I asked.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Maybe. What's it to you?"

"I'm here about a pal of yours, Allen Carson."

His eyes widened and he bolted toward the back of the bar. I guess he
was shy.

I took off after him. This was more like it. Hunter and hunted.
Predator and prey. A waitress that I would have given a tip to wear a
sack over her head stepped right out in front of me and went flying as
I elbowed her aside. The patrons started scrambling and shouting. I
snatched one of the pool cues off the wall and tossed it between at
Vern's feet as he approaching the back wall.

The stick tangled his legs, dropping him in an untidy heap with a
screech. He tried to scramble to his feet but I dropped onto him like a
hawk on a cute little bunny rabbit.

Driving his face into the floor, I levered his arm behind him. "Hi,
Vern. What's the rush? Hot date?" His response was muffled by the
cheap-assed carpet he was eating so I let him back up a bit. I would
have talked, myself. No telling what was on that carpet. "Tell me about
Allen Carson. Make it good, or we'll see how well you breathe when I
tie you up like a pretzel."

"Shit, Bitch, let him loose!" shouted one of the men that had been
playing pool.

"Back off," I snarled back. "You don't want to get into my business
with Junior. Go back to your game. Talk, Vern."

"I don't know," he groaned. "I don't know no Allen! I swear!"

"Wrong answer." I ground his face into the carpet, burying my knee into
his back.

The guy behind me had more balls than common sense. He shoved my
shoulder hard. "Let him up, Bitch." The bad thing about big balls was
they made a great target.

I snapped my elbow back into his conveniently placed crotch. He went
down hard and I could hear him adding his own share of gross stuff to
the carpet. It might make it smell better.

"You gave a reference for him. Talk, Vern." I whispered loudly into his
ear.

His legs started beating against the floor. "I don't know him! I swear!
Some dude just paid me to give him a good reference. Two hundred
bucks!"

My right side lit up with pain and I fell over. The other pool player
was standing there with his cue. Thank god for thick jackets.

"You think you're tough, Bitch? Come get some of this." He spun his
pool cue around like some ninja poser.

I rubbed my side as I stood up. "You think that stick makes you tough?
Let's see." With a quick step forward, I started grabbing pool balls
and bouncing them off him. The cue clattered to the floor as he tried
to duck and cover. His sudden screams of pain and flight from the fight
cheered me up a lot. Only an idiot used a cue when the balls made
*much* better weapons.

Looking at the rest of the bar patrons, who were all staring at me, I
smiled wolfishly. "Nothing to look at. Vern just didn't pay for the
transvestite hooker he used last week." I can't imagine why no one
tried to stop me from leaving.

Back out in the parking lot, I took a deep breath, trying to clear the
stench from my lungs. Still no closer than when I arrived, I took my
bike and headed south. The pieces were starting to fall into place, I
just had to get them into the right order.

In half an hour, I was pulling into the parking lot at Seawolf Park.
Ted's car was there, next to an RV and a beat up old pickup. I paid my
ticket and was pulling into the lot when the ship started belching
smoke from one of the stacks at the rear of the hull.

Not bothering to curse, I leapt off the bike and ran toward the ship.
As I was climbing on the deck, a ratty looking man came out of the
bridge and screeched to a halt at the sight of me. Innocent people
don't stop running from fires. I was already reaching for my pistol
when he pulled his and ducked back behind some metal thing whose
purpose I didn't have time to fathom.

"This certainly isn't to your advantage, Detective. Shall we shoot it
out while your friends burn?" He shouted, his voice more cultured than
his appearance.

"Drop the weapon," I called back.

"Oh, I don't think so," he chuckled. "Once again, I am one step ahead
of you. You're more troublesome than I expected, though. I should have
taken care of you at Samson's office. You do your Master's bidding
better than most minions." I caught a glimpse of him off to the side
and ducked when he fired at me.

"Was that you? I didn't think a dried up stick like you had that kind
of strength in him." I slid forward, toward the bridge, watching for
him. When I saw him slinking toward the back rail of the ship, I fired
at him twice, making him duck.

"I left your friends in a burning room and every second counts. Take
your time thinking about what you *really* want to do," he suggested
with a laugh.

Bastard. He was right. "We'll meet again. Soon. Keep looking over that
shoulder."

I backed into the door he came out of with his laugh chasing me. The
smoke was pouring up from a stairway leading down into the bowels of
the ship. I spotted a fire extinguisher on the wall and snagged it,
pulling my shirt over my face I plunging into the smoke.

Settling closer to the floor where the smoke was less punishing, I
crawled toward the rear of the ship. The hall ended in a hatch with a
wheel on it. A metal bar was jammed into the wheel. I grabbed it and
let go with a yelp. It was hot! Duh, Hawk. There was a fire on the
other side of the door. Smoke poured into the hall from a vent above
the door.

Whipping off my jacket, I dropped the extinguisher. Then, I wrapped the
jacket around the metal bar and yanked hard. It didn't move. I pulled
harder. With a screech, it pulled loose. I used the jacket to force the
wheel around and kicked the hatch open.

The smoke pouring out made me gag and cough. "Lisa! Ted!"

"Hawk!" Lisa screamed from inside. They were on the other side of a
sheet of flame.

"Hang on!" I shouted. Grabbing the extinguisher, I yanked the pin and
started spraying the floor. The flames didn't die easily, but I forced
my way toward my friends one step at a time.

I started worrying about how much the extinguisher had left. The flames
were stubborn. With a chug, it started to give out and there were still
a few feet of flame between us. "Shit!"

Ted grabbed Lisa and tossed her across the flames and into my arms. I
almost went over but staggered back and kept her on her feet. My prized
leather jacket fell into the flames, along with the spent extinguisher,
as I fought to keep us clear. I backed us out into the hall.

"Come on, Ted! Jump!" Lisa screamed, clutching her purse to her side.

Ted jumped through the flames and rolled into the hall. His pants were
on fire and I used my shoe to put him out. Then I helped him up.

"We need to blow this joint. Now." I shouted.

Together we escaped the fire, coughing and wheezing. The fresh air was
like a drug. We sucked it in even as we tumbled down the ramp. Staff
was running to the ship and a man helped us down the ramp and off onto
the grass.

"Is everyone okay," he asked worriedly.

I looked at Ted and Lisa, alive and well. "We're just fine." I said
softly.

Ted held onto Lisa, letting her start to cry. I felt the same urge but
focused on the parking lot instead. The old pickup was gone, but now I
had a real lead. I knew who had jumped me in Calvin's office and knew
he was connected to the DA here in Galveston. That explained the easy
access. No way that man came in through the window. He had a key.

The level of smoke pouring from the ship started to tail off. The staff
was getting it under control. Off in the distance, I heard sirens
getting closer. I wasn't looking forward to explaining this one.

Sitting back down by the lovers, I touched them both. "I told you to be
careful," I said gruffly. "I don't want to have to..."

Lisa threw herself onto me and tried to squeeze the life out of me,
crying again. "Oh, Hawk! I thought we were going to die!" The side that
had been hit with the pool cue ached, but I ignored it.

I held onto her, but looked at Ted. "Not on my watch. Nobody messes
with my friends. I saw the man. I wish I had been thinking, because I
could have gotten his tag numbers."

Ted nodded. "They might have a camera that caught that. Parking lot
security. His coming here might just be his first big mistake. He got
all of Calvin's stash except for a data CD that Lisa has."

"I have good news, too. I got a line on the bomber. I had his info in
my jacket, but it's toast now." I shook my head in disgust as I
thought about my mental note in the bar to burn my clothes. I hadn't
meant it literally. I made another mental note to be more careful about
my mental notes, and then shook my head again. This nonsense wasn't
getting me anywhere. "Anyway, he was a young guy, not a geezer man.
Fake ID, but there is a picture on file at the place where he stole the
explosives."

I looked at the fire engine pulling into the lot. "We know some of the
players but not the game. We need to keep the police out, for now.
Digger tagged my bike with an illegal tracker, and that makes me
suspicious. I don't know if he's a part of this or not, but I'm
smelling a rat somewhere. The police investigation has been derailed
and that sure looks like someone inside, as much as I hate to admit
it."

Ted stood up, pulling Lisa back to him. "We should get moving before
someone official comes over."

I nodded and stood up, but before we could take more than two steps, I
saw trouble. Murphy driving through the gate.

"Shit. Here we go," I muttered.

Murphy climbed out of his car with a grunt and headed right for us. I
opened my mouth to say something, but he cut me off.

"You folks okay?" he asked loudly. "You need paramedics?" Then he
dropped his voice. "I don't know what's going on here, and I don't want
to know. The DA and some prick from the Texas Rangers have a hard-on
for all three of you and it smells really bad. The DA opened warrants
for all of you, linking you to the bombing. It's total crap, but any
cop that sees you won't have a choice but to arrest you." He paused a
beat. "Good thing for you I never saw you." Murphy poked me in the
chest. "You owe me, Hawk. You owe me big time. Now, beat it. All three
of you."

He walked off, leaving me totally flabbergasted, to direct the scene.

"We need to go. Now," Ted said.

"Yeah," I muttered, "before Jordan shows up to give me a backrub."

We took our vehicles and cleared the area before the majority of the
uniforms arrived. Lisa directed us onto some back streets and then onto
the highway. She pulled us over into Texas City and to a small house.

I climbed off the bike and looked at it, confused.

"My mother's house," Lisa said. "We need to clean up, eat and plan our
next move. Things are coming to a head. Let's park in the back."

Ted stepped back to the car. "You girls start without me. I'll hit a
Stop and Rob for some fresh food and supplies we might need, and then
come back. Save me some hot water."

Lisa opened the back door while I stashed my bike. The house was small,
but neat. She was waiting for me inside the door, already half-naked.

"Strip. We need to wash the clothes," Lisa said.

We were both a mess, covered in soot. I stripped and she stuffed our
clothes into the washer.

Lisa took my hand and pulled me against her, wrapping her arms around
me. She kissed me deeply, stirring a heat inside me. "Go shower," she
said softly. "And thank you. I'll wait for Ted, so I don't tempt
myself."

With a sigh, I nodded. I found the shower and let the hot water beat on
me. God, what a day this had been.

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